Various walking assistance devices have been proposed for the purpose of providing an assistance to a person who has a difficulty in walking by himself owing to the lack of muscular force caused by external injuries, diseases and aging, and such a device typically includes a power actuator fitted on the wearer near his hip joint or knee joint to assist the movement of his lower limbs. Conventionally, in such a walking assistance device, it was typical to support an actuator on a lower limb of the wearer with the aid of support members that are secured to the femoral part and crus (lower leg) of the wearer by fastening belts or the likes.
In a walking assistance device, a hip support member is worn on the hip of the wearer typically by passing a belt around the hip. In such a case, it is preferable not only to provide an assisting force for maintaining an upright posture but also to minimize the discomfort to the wearer during use, and a walking assistance device meeting such a need has been proposed (see Japanese patent laid open publication No. 2005-000634, for instance).
When wearing a support member on the hip of a wearer, it is necessary to minimize the load on the hip, and it can be accomplished, for instance, by using an athletic supporter. There is proposed an athletic supporter that straightens the spine by effectively applying a pressure to the back of the wearer without excessively pressing the middle abdomen (see Japanese patent laid open publication No. 08-317947, for instance).